.NICARAGUA A^D GENERAL WALKEk 




SPEECH 



HON. GEO. W PECK, OF MICHIGAN, 



DELIVERED AT 



THE MASS MEETING 



HELD IN THE PARK, NEW YE 



MAY 23, 1856. 






PRINTED AT TBf .VION OPPICK. 



18 



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'vited men of 

holy shrine 

^ to be seen 

and it has 

SPEECH. '.ere lives 

Dolitical 

/ ■ Nn that 

.ildfen 
Mr. PECK, being introduced as a citizen of Michigan, but a i 
of the City of New York, spoke as follows : rea 

Fellow-citizens: I come here to-night not as a partisan, not as "a 
citizen of the State of Michigan, proud as I am of my loved j)eninsu]ar 
State — not as a native-born citizen of New York, proud as I might 
well be of that, but, claiming a title prouder than all these, as an 
American citizen, to join my congratulations with your own at the 
occurrence of an event which I believe — and he must be blind to the 
teachings of the past who does not see it — will prove a link connecting 
the glories of the past with the magnificence of our future. I mean 
the recognition of that government recently established in Nicaragua 
by the grey-eyed man, the man of destiny, who represents the energy, 
the enterprise and the free spirit of the American people ; this repre- 
sentative man, the. pioneer of American enterprise, is now assuming 
in Central America that task which the Spaniard has abandoned, but 
which the Anglo-American takes up with a calm, confident reliance 
that he, and he alone, can carry out the glorious destiny which Grod 
and nature seem to have designed for that country. 

It is no ordinary event. We who live in the midst of the events, 
which through all time are to shed lustre upon our name and charac- 
ter as a nation, with our minds intent upon the details of what is 
going on around us, are hardly able to glance over the whole field or 
comprehend fully the vast influence they are to exert upon the future. 
Let me tell you that when the genius of America shall write her next 
page upon the roll of history, the name of the grey-eyed man will be 
there inscribed, and the record of his deeds will prove him to have 
been indeed the man of destiny, the very man required for the time 
and the occasion. 

Gentlemen, it is good for us to be here and exchange congratula- 
tions with each other upon the great events now occurring in Central 
America. But is it simply for the purpose of indulging mere national 
vanity — to pride ourselves upon what we have done, or may do? Have 
we accomplished all that we see around us to-day for the gratification 
of any feeling as selfish as that ? Not so. It has been reserved for 
this people, of all people that ever flourished upon the earth, to dem- 
onstrate for the first time the capability of man for self-government. 
We alone, of all nations, have been able to establish for ourselves 
self-government, and we alone will be able to bequeath to posterity 
those institutions which secure the equal rights, and on which the pros- 
perity of the people depends. This government was the first that 
tested the capability of man for self-government. All that preceded 
it we're more or less based upon the opposite doctrine, of the right of 
the few to govern the many — based upon the supposed superior intel- 



few 6yer the many. All the governments of the Old 
i have arisen and fallen, and all which now exist, are 
ji doctrine directly antagonistic to that which controls us 
a as a body politic. That doctrine is, that the masses are 
take care of themselves, and the few, who are rich and pow- 
jt take care of the many. Their theory is that of force ; ours 
universal charity, hd,sed upon the grand idea of universal 
nood and the equality of man. When our fathers founded 
^nfederacy.and these institutions of ours, based upon this doc- 
.e, they were met with the sneers of the despots of the Old World, 
dud were derided for their faith in the ability of man for self-govern- 
ment. Their opponents cast contempt upon the effort ; they doubted, 
or if they did not doubt, they pretended to doubt, the success of this 
grand doctrine, contending that it must fail, as all experiments of the 
kind had failed before. Our fathers contended that the doctrine of 
self-government, when carried out in practice, would result in the dif- 
fusion of universal happiness among the people, and maintained that 
a republic was more conducive than all other forms of government to 
the happiness of the citizen. Another objection, and one still urged 
by the despots of the Old World against the establishment of repub- 
lics, is this, that republicanism will not answer for large communities. 
They tell you that it will work well enough perhaps in walled towns, 
or small communities. Our mission has been to teach the reverse 
of this. In pursuing the grand design proposed by our fathers, we 
have demonstrated the truth of this doctrine — that republicanism is 
not only most conducive to the greatest happiness and prosperity of 
the citizens, but contributes as largely and surely to national great- 
ness and permanence : in fact, that it is the only form of government 
which will elevate a State to such a degree of power, strength and 
magnificence, as to make it impregnable against all external assaults. 
We have been called a land stealing race. My friend Oreeley says that 
democrats are land pirates ; and he says, too, that they have acquired 
all the territory which has been acquired by this government from its 
foundation to the present time. So they have, and I glory in it. We 
have acquired it for the purpose of carrying out the great doctrine of the 
equality of the human family, the great gospel of democracy, the uni- 
versal brotherhood of man ; and when wehave acquired territory, we have 
extended over it the equal laws which govern us. We depress none. 
We make no subject-people bend in submission to us, but we extend to 
them the hand of universal brotherhood, and raise them up. This is 
what we have done heretofore, and this is the glorious task in which 
we are now engaged. We have done it in the spirit of universal 
charity, and with the conviction indelibly impressed upon our minds 
that republicanism is most conducive, of all forms of government, to 
the glory and greatness, as well as security and happiness, of a people. 
When our fathers founded this government of ours, what did they do, 
and in what spirit did they act? Did they close the doors of the 
republic against the people of other countries who might desire to 
seek a home and a refuge here? Did they, like political Pharisees, 
stand before the altar of their country, and, puffed up with a sense of 
their own superiority, say to the down-trodden of other climes, 



"Stand back! we are holier tlian thou." No; ' iiey invited men of 
all races, of all creeds, to come here and worship at the holy shrine 
of freedom. The fire they lighted on that altar was meant to he seen 
of all men, from one extremity of the world to the other ; and it has 
been. Until now, where in any clime, or under any rule, there lives 
the man who has faith in his fellow-in^, and hope for the political 
regeneration of his race, he turns to ^Hb light as the beacon that 
will point his way, as surely as the Pillar of Fire led the children 
of Israel, to their promised land. \ 

From the small beginning which our country in its original area 
presented, we now exhibit the spectacle of a people inhabiting a land 
of more magnificent proportions and varied resources than God ever 
before intrusted to human guardianship. American enterprise and 
American energy, in their more than Koman march to empire over the 
western continent, have step by step gone on, crossing one by one the 
great barriers which nature seems to have put in our way, until, pass- 
ing from the Atlantic over the Mississippi and the Eocky mountains, 
we find to-day the only fitting terminus of our empire in the majestic 
waters of the Pacific. Thus far we have gone in that direction. In the 
south we have taken from Mexico, but fairly and honorably^ an em- 
pire almost equal in extent to our original inheritance. What have 
we done? What do we see going on before our eyes? What do we 
exhibit to the world upon this field of action ? Why, a nation dif- 
fusing in this way more intelligence and happiness than any that ever 
before existed. I say this for the purpose of giving you an idea of 
what strikes my mind as the great leading idea — in short, the whole 
philosophy of American politics. We need this area. Why ? Be- 
cause our policy is to throw open our doors to men of all climes — to 
the lovers of liberty of every nation under heaven ; and we ask them to 
come in and do what ? To unite with us to build up the temple. They 
have come. We never could have accomplished in the short space 
of time what we have, with our strength alone, nor without adding 
in this way to our population. We needed the strong arms and high, 
hearts of men of all climes to help us. Now, increased territory be- 
came necessary for our increased population ; the one has followed the 
other, and it is a signal fact^ worthy to be noticed by every student of 
our history, that as we have made room the men have come. They 
were sent as by a mission from the God of freedom, to work out the 
problem by our side. Now, the despots of the Old World say, here 
is your danger. You are getting in all sorts of discordant materials, 
and you will find by and by that these men, born under different 
rules and educated under different systems of government and reli- 
gion, will be at war with one another ; discord will reign ; each man 
thinks himself right ; each man insists upon his own superiority and 
his judgment of the right, and it must follow that you fall into con- 
fusion. They point us to the history of all great empires of the Old 
World, and say, your republic stands because it is small ; but the 
great empire of the world, Rome — the mistress of the world — fell to 
pieces of her own weight. They say that the great Persian empire, 
which had dominion over the then known world, together with the 
Assyrian empire, both fell from the same cause ; that the larger the 



6 

territory, the weakeX tlie government ; and that the more you increase 
the territory, the greater must be the power at the centre to keep that 
government together. Now, we are to demonstrate that this is false. 
Can we do it? Let me tell you how. There is no analogy between 
the cases. In the great empires of the olden world — Eome, and As- 
syria, and the rest — power radiated from the centre to the circumfer- 
ence. The government was^j^ source of all individual rights, and 
gave or withheld them at it^^asure. 

In the Koman Empire, it was a comparatively small but extremely 
vigorous central power that held the parts of that extended empire 
together ; but when, in the course of time, wealth followed conquest, 
and corruption followed wealth, when vice had sapped the old Koman 
virtue that was the secret of their strength, then it was that the cen- 
tral government, becoming weaker and weaker, lost the control of 
power, and the empire fell apart. 

But mark the difference between us and them. Our central govern- 
ment gives us no right, our central power gives power to no extreme. 
The case is exactly the reverse. With us the central government — 
the government of the Union — is a deposit of power, a power which 
goes from each one of you, according to the constitution and the laws 
of the land. It is deposited in the central government in trust for 
you, and each American citizen in this broad land stands, not a de- 
pendant upon his government, but a support to it. Yes, in this great 
temple of freedom each man stands a pillar of the State. Thus, there- 
fore, it is, that we stand justified before the nations, before all the 
earth, and before all posterity, in extending the area of our territory. 
The more territory the more men ; the more men the more pillars, and 
the firmer stands the temple. 

Now, gentlemen, you must have perceived that I am one of those 
who are called "manifest destiny" men. I am a manifest destiny 
man. That doctrine which is so sneered at by political j^rudes, that 
doctrine which some of the proud, pharisaical priests of the country 
look down upon with such contempt — let us look at this doctrine of 
manifest destiny, and see what it is. Now, I ask these good pious 
souls out yonder^ who sneer at the American mob, who talk of mani- 
fest destiny — I ask these fogies in petticoats — I mean the old women 
in breeches, (and we have a great many of them) — I ask them what 
manifest destiny is ? 

It is a doctrine of religion, and it is a doctrine confirmed and ap- 
proved by all human reason, that "not a sparrow falls to the ground 
without the Avill of our Heavenly Father," and He cares for it. It is 
the doctrine of religion, and it is the doctrine of philosophy, that no 
human being comes into this living, breathing world, but has a task 
imposed upon him by the Creator. He has a work to do. We talk 
of human responsibility, and of the duties of our station, and what 
do we mean ? When God invested you with life and reason and 
physical energy, he imposed upon you certain obligations resulting 
therefrom; and so in all ages and among all classes and creeds of 
men, men* have believed in what some call "Providence," and in 
what some call "destiny;" — but call it what >ou will, there it is, 
rooted in the heart of every man, woven by the finger of God in every 
filament of his heart and brain, that he is sent here for the purpose 



of doing something — to perform some duty — that God puts him in 
the very place he ought to he, and that He means that he shall do 
that duty in the place in which he puts him. 

Can you believe, my friends — is it credible, that the Creator, the 
God of nations as well as of men, has permitted the various nations 
of the world to rise and fall without a m^re or without a purpose ? 
attaching to these aggregations of men^^eater, beyond all calcula- 
tion, in their magnificent power and influence, than the individuals 
composing them, less responsibility than he has imposed upon the 
inferior individual man ? No, gentlemen, no. There is a Providence 
which shapes the ends of nations as of men. There is a destiny for 
every people. God has imposed upon every people a certain business 
to do ; certain responsibilities to be met ; certain wise purposes to be 
wrought out, indicated by the circumstances with which He, in his 
providence, has placed them, and corresponding with the magnitude 
of their power and influence. This is a solemn truth, and hence I 
say I believe in manifest destiny. We have gone on step by step 
perfecting this race, perfecting this one race out of many, as well as 
this one government out of many^ and we have done what, under 
Heaven, we have done, because Providence has made us what we are — 
the very people for the very land. Anglo-Americans for the conti- 
nent of America. What do we see in all this, but that, acting upon 
the instinct of the American people, we have gone on and acquired 
this territory, opened the door to men of all nations, and made not 
only one government out of many governments, but one people out of 
many, whose past history indicates clearly that this continent is its 
inheritance. Now, we have gone out and acquired the territory of 
the West. We have acquired a portion of the territory of the South ; 
and the question comes up, what shall we do more? The eyes of the 
American people now turn to the South, and every ear is turned to 
hear the tidings that may be brought back to tell us of another march 
in the giant race of empire over the continent. Walker is a repre- 
sentative man, working out in his sphere the obvious destiny of his 
country and his race. We find him there taking the broken down 
relics and remnants of the old Spanish colonization — that colonization 
which they have been unable to perfect, and infusing American prin- 
ciples and American energy ; and we cannot but feel a sympathy in 
the doings of this man who thus fitly represents our people and our 
destiny. We are told that we are inspired with the lust of conquest, 
because we seek to acquire Central America and Mexico. I grant it, 
we do. But why ? Because we wish to work out still further the 
great problem of which I have spoken ; because not only the acquisi- 
tion of Central America and Mexico now becomes necessary for us in 
order to defend the territory which we own upon the Pacific coast, but 
because we are impelled by a much higher motive — which is, that we 
would carry out, in every corner of the continent, the task which God 
has imposed upon our race. 

There are always events which decide the fate of nations, wholly 
within their own control, and dependant entirely upon themselves. 

While we are talking here to-night, the crisis may be pending on 
which the success or failure of Walker ma^ depend, and with it the 



8 

cause of Anglo-American progress in Central America be wholly or 
for a long time retarded- 
It is, then, necessary that we act, and act promptly and efficiently, to 
sustain him and his cause. The man of destiny must he sustained. 
He must have men and money. Whence must they come ? From 
you — you must come f(||*ftrd and prove your faith by your works. 
All can do something. ^iPthis be done, and there can be but little 
doubt that the States of Central America, under the influence of Anglo- 
American intelligence and enterprise, will soon become peaceable and 
prosperous communities. Under those influences we shall see them 
one by one arise to claim their places in our great confederacy of 
sovereign States. Younger brothers, it is true; but each, like Ban- 
quo's line, rising 'like the issue of a King, and wearing on its in- 
fant brow the round and top of sovereignty." 

And now a word more, of Cuba — Cuba, the Queen of the Antil- 
les — Cuba, the key of the great Gulf — that floats upon our summer 
seas, the paradise of the New World. Shall we have Cuba ? Prompt- 
ed alike by the necessities of our situation and the instincts and in- 
terests of the Anglo-American people, I say we must have her. Then 
only shall we have accomplished our manifest destiny as a nation, and 
proved to the world that we are worthy of it. 



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